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from a rate of 0.53 per 1,000 in 1951 to 1.07 in 1971, an
increase of 102% whilst that in women has risen by 155% from
0.9 to 0.23 over the same period.
Although slightly less favourable than the country's average
percentage of total deaths, malignant disease in Greenwich,
with the exception of lung cancer, continues to follow the
national trend. Borough deaths from all forms of cancer during
1971 numbered 591, representing 23.2% of total deaths and producing
a rate of 2.72 per 1,000 population, the rate for males
being 3.00 and for females 2.45. The present figure of 591 is
22 higher and the rate 0.49 greater than the respective averages
for the previous 6 years. With a current total of 56, carcinoma
of the breast shows a rise of 8% over the average for the last
6 years. Similarly, cancer of the uterus which was the cause
of 18 deaths during the year was some 50% higher than the 6-year
average and the 9 cervical cancer deaths included in this figure
showed an identical advance. In Greenwich, bronchial carcinoma
exhibited a trend contrary to that of the nation as a whole in that
both males and females have shown a reduction from their
averages for the previous 6 years.
Recently, two new approaches to this serious problem have
been made public. At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, medical scientists
have discovered that white blood cells of people with cancer
develop a special reaction to a protein detectable in malignant
tumours before symptoms are discernible in the patient. Use is
being made of this process in that area for the diagnosis of cancer
of the cervix uteri. Unfortunately the tests are very difficult
and time consuming which makes large scale use out of the
question. Moreover, as there is no effective method of treating
cancers in unknown locations, the result of its use in screening
would be merely to create anxiety in those found to be positive
without the compensating hope of a full recovery. Ten years ago
an interest at Birbeck College in London was centred on the
body's method of controlling the division of cells in different
tissues. An active ingredient of the outer skin layers was discovered
which inhibited cell division and which they termed
"chalone" and, further, that each tissue had its own chalone.
Last year an international scientific conference in America has
intimated that these substances might well be useful in the control
of cancer and experiments on these lines are proceeding.
Although essentially practical and technically feasible, screening
programmes in the field of malignancy would make demands
on resources, both financial and manpower, that could not, at
present, be justified.
Naturally, treatment cannot await full aetiological explanations